When, how long to play Jeremy Johnson a 'fine line'

AUBURN – It wasn't always according to plan, but when Jeremy Johnson came into games last season it was for one-pass spurts.

Auburn's coaches have repeatedly stated the plan for this season is for Johnson to have a bigger role and Thursday's trip to No. 20 Kansas State could be the first opportunity to see how the Montgomery native will be used to complement the offense.

Aside from when Johnson made his first career start against Western Carolina and came in for an injured Nick Marshall against Florida Atlantic, Johnson played in three games without consecutive pass attempts in any.

"There's that fine line," Auburn offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee said. "Last year there were a couple of times, it wasn't intentional to necessarily to play him one play, and so there's always that fine line that you don't want to jerk a guy around.

"You don't want to take Nick out of a rhythm if he's playing well. You don't want to put Jeremy in and take him out and ask him to do things that put him in a tough spot."

Johnson is 15-for-20 for 277 yards with two touchdowns so far this season, appearing in the first half against Arkansas and most of the fourth quarter against San Jose State.

The key is still using Johnson to benefit the Tigers without taking Marshall out of sync.

"A lot of those things are things that sound good until you actually have to manage 18-22-year-old kids' emotions and their ability to be successful," Lashlee said. "We factor all those things in. We've got plenty of confidence in Jeremy to do it all."